The Price of Being the Operator
by Chaos Of A Butterfly
Summary: Oneshot. Set during first movie. Tank's thoughts from when Mouse dies to directly after he fries Cypher with the gun.


The screen glitched out and Tank immediately knew that they were in trouble. He tried to get the screens back to normal, but it had no effect. And then, suddenly, they were up and running again.

Tank immediately starts checking them, trying to figure out what had been changed. When he does, he knows that some of them are going to die. The phone line, the only way to bring everyone back, had been cut. The windows they'd been planning on using to escape have been bricked in. Tank feels the panic, the fear for his team, bubbling inside him, but he tries to push it back down. He's the operator; he needs to keep calm. He checks his team's locations, trying to find a different way for them to get out.

Mouse. Mouse was trapped. He had SWAT and agents and cops coming at him, and no escape. The only ways out of the room he was in were the now bricked in window, and the door that SWAT was coming towards.

"No." Tank breathed, terrified for the kid. Mouse, the youngest of them all. Why? Who would do this to them?

He couldn't help but watch the screen as Mouse picked up the two huge guns and fired all he had at the agents and SWAT. But, as they fired back, Tank knew it was hopeless. Mouse was dead.

Tank was pretty sure he cried out, pretty sure he said something, but he had to move on. He had to make sure the rest of his team survived. He would have time to mourn for Mouse later; right now, he had to be the operator. Morpheus called him, asking for the layout of the building, having him locate a main vent in the wall that they could climb down. Tank's pretty sure his voice is mostly stable, which is good; he needs to help Morpheus now.

He located the vent, as well as an old phone line that they can use. They immediately go to the vent, climbing down. But they aren't quiet enough, and the agents find them. Morpheus sacrifices himself for Neo. Tank feels the fear again, feels the sadness, the need to scream, but doesn't make a sound. He needs to stay composed; for Apoc, Switch, Neo, Trinity, and Cypher.

Then he gets all call from Cypher. There was a car crash, and he got separated. Looking at the screen, Cypher _is_ by a car crash, and, even though something feels _off_ about the situation, Tank tells Cypher where the phone line is. After all, that's his job as the operator.

Cypher gets through fine, and Tank immediately goes back to monitoring Neo, Apoc, Switch, and Trinity. He doesn't know anything's wrong until he hears a noise, and feels a burning pain in his arm. He immediately turns around, and, upon seeing Cypher with the gun, understand some of it. All this, Morpheus's capture and Mouse's death, is Cypher's fault.

Then Cypher blast's him again and he just feels pain. On the ground, unable to move, unable to do anything, he can only watch as Cypher kills Dozer as well. He worries for his sister, how she will take the news. He hopes that when she gets it, Link will be there to make sure she's okay.

Laying there, burning, Tank didn't feel anything except pain and numbness. Dozer was dead. Mouse was dead. Apoc was dead. He was dying, and Switch, Trinity, and Neo would soon follow. Morpheus was in the hand of the agents, and all this was Cypher's fault.

Though, while lying there, he couldn't help but think about Cypher. _Why_ would he do this? It made sense, Tank decided. Cypher never had really been cut out for all this. And if what he could hear was right, than Cypher would be reinserted and not remember a thing.

That made an anger bubble up inside Tank. Cypher was a self bastard. He killed Mouse, he killed Apoc, he killed Dozer, and now he was going top kill Switch, Neo, and Trinity, all so he could be reinserted and live his stupid, fake image of a life. Tank let his anger bubble; let it turn into rage, before pulling himself up. He wasn't going to let that happen. No, he would kill this lying bastard, for all the pain he'd caused them.

Tank crawled over to the electric gun, the one that Cypher had killed Dozer with, and picked it up, dragging himself into a standing position. He would kill Cypher. For Apoc, for Dozer, for Switch, for Mouse, and for Morpheus. And for Trinity and Neo, so they could live.

Pulling himself over to where Cypher is, he pulls the gun up, readying it.

"How can he be the One, if he's dead?" Cypher asks. He continues badgering Trinity, asking her if she believes that Neo is the One.

Tank knows, without even hearing it, that she says yes.

"No! I don't believe it!" Cypher screams, having turned. He stares at Tank, fear apparent in his eyes. Tank smirks, realizing that Cypher had thought he was actually _dead_, not dying.

"Believe it or not, you piece of shit, you're still gonna burn!" It's actually satisfying, watching as the electricity comes out, watching as it burns Cypher up, killing him instantly. It's satisfying because now Tank can feel like he avenged Dozer, and Mouse, and Switch and Apoc.

He then goes and gets the phone line, brings Trinity and Neo back. Trinity, upon learning of Dozer's death, hugs him. She sees the burn on his side, and asks him if he's okay. He says yes, not just because he needs to, but because he thinks it might be true. He's still terribly upset about all the deaths, and his side is still burning, but he knows he will move on. He will, because Morpheus needs him. He will, because he is the operator.

Oo0oO

**Wolfie: It didn't come out as good as I had hoped…I'd just watched the movie for the third time, and this little drabble came in my head. Review?**

**Set in the first movie- Tank's thoughts from when the glitch occurs to when he calls Trinity and Neo (right after he kills Cypher). And the part about Tank's sister and Link is in reference to a line the Link's wife says in the second movie "I lost two brothers on that ship." Tank and Dozer. So I needed to include that.**


End file.
